Agrifood systems receive just 7% of global climate finance, against a $1.1 trillion annual need
Why food security is becoming a capital allocation issue
New analysis from the Climate Policy Initiative (CPI), commissioned by the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office and delivered through the ClimateShot Investor Coalition, finds that global agrifood systems receive only 7.2% of total climate finance, around $95 billion a year. That is just 8.3% of the $1.1 trillion needed annually by 2030 to address the sector's emissions, deforestation and biodiversity impact, and to adapt food systems to a changing climate.
Separate FAO analysis published ahead of COP30 found the gap widening rather than closing: climate-related development finance for agrifood systems rose by only 1% between 2022 and 2023, even as overall climate finance grew by 12%. In 2023, livestock, fisheries, forestry and crop production together received just 4% of total climate-related development finance, despite the sector's role in preventing hunger and malnutrition and its contribution to close to 30% of global greenhouse gas emissions. FAO put the total investment gap needed to make agrifood systems sustainable, resilient and inclusive at roughly $1.3 trillion, around twelve times current funding levels.
The mismatch is stark given the stakes. Agrifood systems sit at the intersection of food security, rural livelihoods and climate resilience, yet remain among the most underfunded parts of the climate finance landscape. Closing that gap will require more than public finance and grants. It requires patient private capital willing to build large-scale, investable platforms in markets that have historically struggled to attract it.
This is the gap Agrium Capital is built to work in: developing anchor development capital and blended finance structures for agri-food systems in frontier and emerging markets, where the need for investment is greatest and the existing capital flows are smallest.
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